Hot-water heater.



no 643,503. Patented Feb. l3, moo.

w.-| HDPLER. HOT WATER HEATER.

(Application filed May 13, 1898.)

2 -Shee tsSheet l.

lNVENTOR= WITNESSES pl I I mwfi;

TORNEYS.

n1: cams Pm'ms'co. Pnoraumo WASHMGTON. o c

No. 643,503. Patenied Feb. l3, I900.

W. K. HOPLER. HOT WATER. HEATER.

(Application filed May 18, 189B.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES: INVENTOR;

' ATTORNEYS,

UNITED STATES P TENT .FFICE.

WILLIAM K. I-IoPLEa, or BARTLEY, NEW JERSEY.

HOT-WATER l-lEATEFi.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 1%.643503, sated February 13, 19oo'.

Application filed May 13,1898. Serial No. 680,540. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM K. HOPLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bartley, in the county of Morris and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hot Water Heaters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of water-heaters and steam-generators used for warming houses,

and more particularly to those in which the flame or heat from the bed of ignited coal is caused to take a tortuous course between overlapping hollow protuberances formed upon the interior boiler of the furnace and containing the water to be heated.

The objects of the present improvements are to secure a reduced cost of construction and greater simplicity, to obtain a larger amount of heating-surface directly over the fire where the current of heated air and the products of combustion naturally rise and most readily flow, to secure a tortuous duct which shall not retard or materially interfere with the draft, to enable the furnace to be cleaned with greater facility and ease by pro viding ready access to the various parts, and to secure other advantages and results, some of which may be referred to hereinafter in connection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved furnace or heater for house-heating purposes, &c., and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth, and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several views, Figure l is a central vertical section of the heater, taken at line on, Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken at line y, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the heater; and Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the boiler,

and forming below said grate an ash-pit c,

the grate I) being manipulated by a lever b in any ordinary manner. At the upper edge of the said base the same is provided with an inwardly-projecting flange or shelf a, upon which the outer casing 02 of the heater stands,

and is suitably fastened approximately in line with the outer surface of the base a. The top of said casing d is provided with a hood or dome 6. These parts may be of any suitable design and may be united in any way convenient. The body of the base a is at the front provided with a suitable door or doors for permitting access to the ash-pit and with suitable means permitting the regulation of the draft. These also may be of any ordinary construction.

At the back of the casing d and preferably near the top an outflow duct or passage d is provided for the smoke and other products of combustion to escape to the chimney after having done their work in heating the Water by contact with the boiler, as hereinafter described. Within the casing thus formed and above the grate is arranged the boiler,

in which the more important features of my invention inhere. Said boiler is of peculiar construction in that it comprises two hollow sections of cast metal, having outside walls adapted to more or less nicely conform to the interior walls of the casing d, a narrow airspace '0 being formed between said walls of the boiler and casing to prevent transmission of heat from the boiler to said casing.

To support the boiler, the flanges a, formed at the top of the base a, as described, have 5 at their inner edges a downward prolongation, which at its lower edge is bent horlzontally inward, forming a seat a The boiler rests at its lower edges upon this'seat and is thus supported with its outer Walls a little in from the casing d to allow an air-space between. A suitable check-draft or dust-damper u of any common construction may control a passage or opening-leading from the ash-pit to the air-space (Z. The said boiler is composed of two hollow sections ff, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, each being provided with suitable lugs or ears g, by means of which they are joined together at their meeting faces. Each section has a backf and sides f f projecting from said back, preferably at right angles, all said parts being hollowand forming one single interior chamber. WVhen the two sections are brought together, the forward edges of said sides f f on one section are abutted against the forward edges of the sides on the opposite section, said edges being suitably squared for the purpose. The meeting edges or faces are provided with openings g, those of one section being adapted to coincide with those of the other when the sections are brought together and suitable nipples being used to form an impervious joint. Theinterior chambers of the two sections are thus brought into open and ready communication with one another, so that they together form a single boiler. The said nipples used in connecting the sections are preferably pushnipples of any common construction adapted to be forced tightly into the opposite perforations as the sections are pressed together. Thus when the meeting faces or edges of the sections come together against one another the means of communication between the two sections is entirely hidden and a pleasing appearance and regularity of construction secured. Furthermore, a connection of the two section-interiors is secured which gives a direct passage from one to the other without turns or angles and one which does not per-- mit the water to be at all lowered in temperature while passing from one boiler-section to the other.

The inward adjacent faces of the sections ff are provided with hollow heating-tongues h, which extend horizontally across the section from side to side. These tongues are each formed with oppositely-inclined or converging upper and lower surfaces, and those of one section alternate in vertical position with those of the other, a tongue of one section of the boiler extending between the --tongues next above and below on the opposite section. A tortuous passage in is thus formed for the heat and products of combustion, which is of uniform or approximately uniform width and cross-sectional area from one end to the other, the general direction of said tortuous passage being upward. The course of the passage is back and forth between the front and rear of the heater, and all said course is inclined upward, so that the air will not be caused at any time to be turned downward, so as to regard the draft. Both the lowestand the highest tongues are on the rear section, and neither of said tongues is of a shorter length than the intermediate tongues. This is an important point of my invention, for by this construction the entrance and exit of the tortuous flue formed between the tongues are both at the front of the boiler. The heat rising from the grate therefore must sweep over the entire under surface of the lowest tongue before it escapes from the fire-chamber, thus impartinga maximum amount of heat to the water in the boiler. In a similar manner the heated air or updraft when it escapes from the top of the tortuous flue must pass backward over the entire upper surface of the highest tongue, thus imparting heat to the contents of said tongue. The chimney-opening d in the casing d is, furthermore, placed in the back wall of said casing at a point below the top, so as to aid in the utilization of all of the heat possible before the current escapes.

The lower ends of the boiler-sections f f are for a suitable distance upward devoid of the hollow heating-tongues h, so as to form directly above the grate b a fire-chamber 7;. This fire-chamber is at the front of the heater provided with an opening for the introduction of fresh supplies of fuel, said opening comprising a tubular passage j, extending through the boiler-section f, air-space i, and outer casing d. A door Z of any ordinary construction is hinged to the outer casing and closes the said fuel-opening. In the front of the forward section or member f of the boiler openings are formed between the tongues 72., which openings extend from the draft-passage m to the outside of the heater. These openings comprise tubular passages j j similar to those described in connection with the fuel-openingj into the fire-chamber and are similarly closed by doors Z Z at convenient points in the front of the heater.

It will be understood that in cross-sectional area the passages j j 3' are comparatively small with relation to the front of the heater, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, and that the circulation of water in the boiler-section is therefore not interfered with.

The openings, together with the peculiar construction of my boiler, render it very easy to thoroughly clean the draft-flue from accumulated soot and ashes. The attendant opens the door and with the ordinary tool or scraper scrapes the soot toward him off of the upper sloping surface of the tongue projecting toward him from the rear section. This done, he pushes the soot away from him down the inclined upper surface of the tongue on the front section which is next below the door. These operations are repeated at each door until the soot or other matter falls into the fire-box. It will thus be seen that my improved construction afiords ready access to all parts of the flue m, and said flue can be constantly kept clean, so the conduction of heat through the walls of the boiler to the water inside will not be impeded. I thus obtain a more perfect economy of heat.

It will be apparent that since the draft-flue extends from front to rear and the exit is at the center of the back of the heater there will be no tendency for the current to occupy any one side or portion of the flue excluheat distributed over the entire surface of the tongues h.- Said tongues are substantially rectangular in vertical cross-section, being of a width about equal to the width of the boiler and of comparatively-small vertical thickness. They thus present a large surface to the heat.

Flow-pipes n a lead from the top of the boiler, and a return-pipe 0 enters at the bottom, as is usual in hot-water heaters. In my construction it should be noted, however, that said flow-pipes it open Vertically upward out of the highest tongue, thus taking the water from the hottest part of the boiler and also enabling said pipes to be surrounded by the draft of heated air passing over the top of the said tongue. Small tubes 19 10 lead from the upper and lower parts of the boiler and outside of the heater connect with a pressu regage q and water-gage r. A blow-off cock 3 is also provided.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new is- 1. In a boiler, the combination of opposite front and rear hollow sections f, f, adapted to be fastened together with their interiors in communication, the adjacent faces of said sections having alternate hollow tongues extending between one another and forming a tortuous flue bending in direction from front to back of the boiler and both starting and ending at the front of the boiler, the highest and lowest tongues being on the rear section 5 f and equal in length to the intermediate tongues an outer casing d, surrounding said boiler-section and providinga draft-space between, and a draft-outlet or chimney connection through said casing at the rear of the boiler whereby the draft is caused to pass over the top of the rear section before escaping, substantially as set forth.

2. In a boiler, the combination of opposite hollow sections each having a back and parallel sides projecting at right angles to said back, said sections being placed together with the front edges of their sides abutting, the walls at said edges having perforations adapted to register with each other when the sections are placed together, push-nipples inserted in said registering perforations and connecting the interiors of the sections and providing a direct communication therebe tween, means for bolting the two sections firmly together, hollow tongues projecting from the facing sections, those of one section alternating in vertical height with those on the other and being adapted to pass therebetween, the uppermost of said tongues being perforated vertically downward through its top wall to provide an outlet and the opposite section of the boiler being perforated near its bottom to provide an inlet, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 2d day of April, 1898.

WILLIAM K. IIOPLER. 

